Registration open for international intellectual freedom meeting in Miami

Contact:

Steve Zalusky

CHICAGO - Registration is now open for “Intellectual Freedom in a Changing World,” a conference on international issues related to free access to information in libraries. The event will take place August 10-12, 2011 at the Newport Beachside Hotel & Resort in North Miami Beach, Fla.

Topics to be presented include issues regarding religion and libraries; comics, manga and graphic novels in libraries; access to health and sexuality information in the developing world; and WikiLeaks and other issues involving privacy and access to information. Confirmed speakers include Kai Eckholm, FAIFE chair; professor Paul Sturges (OBE), former FAIFE chair; Charles Brownstein, executive director of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund; Barbara Jones, director of the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom; professor JoNel Newman of the University of Miami School of Law; and several more.

Established Dec. 1, 1967, the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom is charged with implementing ALA policies concerning the concept of intellectual freedom as embodied in the Library Bill of Rights, the Association’s basic policy on free access to libraries and library materials.

FAIFE is an initiative within IFLA to defend and promote the basic human rights defined in Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The FAIFE Committee and Office furthers free access to information and freedom of expression in all aspects, directly or indirectly, related to libraries and librarianship. FAIFE monitors the state of intellectual freedom within the library community worldwide, supports IFLA policy development and cooperation with other international human rights organizations and responds to violations of free access to information and freedom of expression.